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Metso's Interim Review January 1 - September 30, 2015

Metso's Interim Review January 1 - September 30, 2015

Metso Corporation's stock exchange release on October 22, 2015 at 12:00 noon local time

Metso will arrange a results audiocast todayat 15:00 EEST (8:00 EDT, 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST). The audiocast is viewable at www.metso.com/latestreports. A simultaneous conference call will be arranged, allowing participants to ask questions. You can also send your written questions during the audiocast via chat function.

Recording of the event is available at the earliest after the event has finished and a transcript will be available for downloading.

This is a summary of Metso's January-September 2015 Interim Review. Complete report is attached to this release as a pdf-file and is also available at www.metso.com/latestreports .

Figures in brackets refer to the corresponding period in 2014, unless otherwise stated. The Process Automation Systems (PAS) business was divested on April 1, 2015, and is not included in the Flow Control segment's figures for July-September 2015. Figures for January-September 2015 and all comparison periods prior to the divestment include PAS. Like-for-like comparisons are made with a separate note.

Third quarter 2015 in brief

Low commodity prices continued to have a negative impact on the demand for capital equipment in the mining and oil & gas industries. Demand for services has softened due to mine closures and customers' cost saving actions.

Orders received EUR 647 million (EUR 786 million, or EUR 727 million excluding PAS), of which EUR 436 million (EUR 493 million, or EUR 464 million excluding PAS) were services orders.

EBITA before non-recurring items EUR 92 million and 13.6% of net sales (EUR 104 million and 12.1%, or EUR 99 million and 12.4% excluding PAS).

Free cash flow totaled EUR 117 million (EUR 46 million).

An extra dividend of EUR 0.40 per share was paid at the beginning of August.

Financial guidance for 2015 (updated on July 23, 2015)We estimate that our net sales, excluding the Process Automation Systems business, in 2015 will be between EUR 3,000 million and EUR 3,200 million and that our EBITA margin before non-recurring items will be around 12.5 percent (12.0-13.0%).

The guidance for 2015 is based on the current market activity in our customer industries, our current backlog and the current exchange rates.

President and CEO Matti Kähkönen: We have been successful in keeping our profitability healthy despite the challenging market environment. Thanks to the cost actions across the Group and the high proportion of the services business in our sales mix, our gross margins have improved and SG&A costs are continuously declining. This resulted in a strong EBITA margin of 13.6 percent in the third quarter. Flow Control's performance was particularly strong with a 20.7 percent EBITA margin, reflecting the multi-industry characteristics of the business. The profitability of the Minerals segment was satisfactory given the current market situation which is expected to remain. Our focus in Minerals is to continue to improve our competitiveness in the equipment business and to turn the services business back to a growth mode.

Key figures

EUR million

Q3/2015

Q3/2014

Change %

Q1-Q3/ 2015

Q1-Q3/ 2014

Change %

2014

Orders received

647

786

-18

2,269

2,608

-13

3,409

Orders received by the services business

436

493

-12

1,473

1,572

-6

2,052

% of orders received

67

63

65

60

60

Order backlog at the end of the period

1,289

1,872

-31

1,575

Net sales

680

861

-21

2,223

2,640

-16

3,658

Net sales of the services business

435

490

-11

1,388

1,435

-3

2,007

% of net sales

64

57

62

54

55

Earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items

92

104

-11

257

323

-20

460

% of net sales

13.6

12.1

11.5

12.2

12.6

Operating profit*

76

72

5

488

250

95

351

% of net sales

11.1

8.4

21.9

9.5

9.6

Earnings per share, EUR

0.29

0.26

12

2.60

0.89

192

1.25

Free cash flow

117

46

154

282

141

100

204

Return on capital employed (ROCE) before taxes, annualized, %**

26.5

15.5

16.4

Equity-to-asset ratio at the end of the period, %

46.4

38.9

40.5

Net gearing at the end of the period, %

15.0

49.6

45.6

Personnel at the end of the period

12,664

15,939

-21

15,644

Figures for Q1-Q3/2015, Q3/2014, Q1-Q3/2014, and full-year 2014 include Process Automation Systems. *Operating profit for Q1-Q3/2015 includes the gain on the disposal of the PAS business.** ROCE for Q1 - Q3/2015 includes the gain on the disposal of the PAS business, which is not annualized.

Key Figures excluding PAS

EUR million

Q3/2015

Q3/2014

Change %

Q1-Q3/2015

Q1-Q3/2014

Change %

2014

Orders received

647

727

-11

2,207

2,353

-6

3,074

Services orders, % of total

67

64

65

62

62

Net sales

680

799

-15

2,168

2,443

-11

3,363

Services net sales, % of total

64

57

63

55

56

Earnings before interest, tax and amortization (EBITA) and non-recurring items

92

99

-7

265

306

-13

426

% of net sales

13.6

12.4

12.2

12.5

12.7

Return on capital employed (ROCE) before taxes, annualized, %

17.1

Personnel at the end of the period

12,664

14,349

-12

14,072

Market developmentWe expect the demand for mining equipment, products and projects to remain weak. We expect the demand for our mining services to be satisfactory and impacted by mine closures and customers' cost-savings initiatives. The demand for both aggregates equipment and services is expected to be satisfactory. The demand for Flow Control products related to customers' new investments is expected to be satisfactory. The demand for Flow Control services is expected to be good.

Metso is the world's leading industrial company in the mining and aggregates industries and in the flow control business. Our knowledge, people and solutions help drive sustainable improvements in performance and profitability in our customers' businesses.

Metso has an uncompromising attitude towards safety. Our products range from mining and construction equipment and systems to industrial valves and controls. Our solutions are delivered and supported by decades of process knowledge and a broad scope of services backed by a global footprint of over 90 service centers, thousands of service employees, and an extensive logistics network.